I liked and even loved, most of what we ate, which was a Chinese banquet. Some of the dishes were so complex and arresting that I couldn't outright love them--it was good to sample, and not have a whole meal of them. I could contemplate eating a full meal of the, uhm... pineapple fish, I think; certainly the chicken and chestnuts, which is featured in the above review; the lamb with cumin; and maybe two or three other things that I munched on as they went past and I've now forgotten. But the most impressive things on the menu would be hard for me to contemplate as a whole meal. Mainly, the fish stew and the spicy chicken we ate were so intense and multi-flavored that I kind of went on culinary overload, and it was hard to cleanse my palate afterward. In fact, bizarrely, my tongue and whole mouth kind of went numb while eating them, which I'm told was due to Sichuan peppercorns. The ConFusion Princess actually wondered aloud if she were having a neurological event. That was a good question.

I ended up "cleansing" my palate at one point with... Duck Stuffed with Everything. Eight Treasures Duck? It was ah-mazing. I would get that again. In a heartbeat. In fact, this duck may be why civilization must continue to function at current levels.

I have been experiencing a weird kind of synesthesia lately, where tastes read in my mind as experiences. "This tastes like stepping out of a hot tub onto cold decking" was a recent experience--tonight I had "This is like driving toward Estes Park on a chilly summer day, with the windows cracked and the heat on." (I think I said, "Tastes like Colorado," when trying to explain it tonight, but that was inadequate.)

Anyway. Good times, catching up with folks I don't often catch, and meeting new folks.

I believe Eight Treasures Duck is indeed the correct name. That was an exciting new one for all of us! Chicken with chestnuts has been a staple for mandolinjen and I ever since she first picked it more or less at random at that meal with the Kitchen Chick.

We're all just sitting around the living room, stomachs bulging, laptop keyboards clicking.

I'd been hoping to go to Penguicon, but Cordelia has birthday party to go to and a soccer game on Saturday, and Scott will be working at least one day this weekend. Ah, well. I was hoping. Maybe next year.